NHL players at charity game hope deal can be reached

• 'I just hope they don't vilify us,' Danny Cleary says of NHL fans

WINDSOR, Ontario - Playing in the "Rock Out the Lockout" charity hockey game was a welcome change for locked-out NHL players.

All of the players said they want to be back playing hockey in the NHL and remain optimistic a deal still can be made.

"We all want to be playing real games, but if we're not playing we might as well do something good with our time," Detroit Red Wings forward Danny Cleary said. "Try to give back. You always gotta give back to the fans, to charities. It's very important.

"I'm real proud of the guys for coming, the other NHL players. It says a lot about them."

Fans cheered as players were introduced. That was important to the players.

"I just hope they don't vilify us," Cleary said of fans who might be frustrated that the sides haven't agreed on a collective bargaining agreement. "Everyone loves hockey - we all love it the same.

"The fans are great. We're in Windsor, close to Detroit. This is a hockey hotbed. They love their hockey, and I'm thankful. We're trying to do a little bit. It's for the kids. It's Christmastime."

Kevin Westgarth of the Los Angeles Kings scored four goals for the victorious White side, three in the first period against Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, in a 17-11 win before an estimated crowd of 4,500 in the 6,500-seat WFCU Centre.

"It's just a lot of fun," Howard said after the first period. "We're out there for a great cause, and it's just fun opportunity to be out there and playing with the guys."

Before the game, players donated a check for $10,000 to Sparkles From Above, a charity benefiting children with cancer. Proceeds from ticket and apparel sales also will go to Sparkles.

"The pace was sloppy early," said Cleary, who helped bring the NHL players together with the Edmonton Oilers' Shawn Horcoff and Buffalo Sabres' Steve Ott. "We kind of came back a little bit, and a guy named Westgarth started owning us."

Horcoff, who was part of the negotiations that eventually broke down Thursday in New York, said he remains optimistic the sides can come back together and play a shortened season.

"We just couldn't get it done in three or four days that we spent there," Horcoff said. "It's something that I think is frustrating for everyone, but especially for the fans.

"There's just not much time left. You've probably got at max a month or so in order to get those games in. We're running out of time but it's a long ways away. I hope after a couple days, cooler heads prevail and we can get back at it.

"We're closer. We made progress. It's not like we're farther apart. We made progress on the key issues, we're just not there yet. The worst thing would be to take time off and not meet. You gotta get in there. Some talks go good and some talks go bad, but at the same time you're figuring things out, trying new ideas ... and you're moving forward."

George Sipple writes for the Detroit Free Press